Many job seekers have experienced this scenario: after thorough preparation, they freeze up during an interview, leading to a poor performance. When dealing with complex algorithms, system design, or business logic, even the slightest misstep can make interviewers doubt your competence.

Today, we’ll share how a candidate, with the help of CSOAHELP’s remote interview assistance, turned a potential disaster into a flawless performance and successfully passed PayPal’s technical interview.

The real PayPal interview question was Find Lowest Price.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Complete the function findLowestPrice which accepts the following parameters:

• 2D_STRING_ARRAY products
• 2D_STRING_ARRAY discounts The function should return an integer, representing the lowest total price after applying discounts correctly.

The interviewer provided the following example input:

products = [
    ["apple", "100"],
    ["banana", "200"],
    ["apple", "150"]
]

discounts = [
    ["apple", "10%"],
    ["banana", "50"],
    ["apple", "20"]
]

The expected output was 270, explained as follows: The cheapest apple priced at 100 gets a 10% discount, making it 90. The second apple, priced at 150, gets a direct reduction of 20, making it 130. The banana, priced at 200, gets a 50 reduction, making it 150. The total price is 90 + 130 + 150 = 270.

The candidate froze upon seeing this question. Despite having practiced LeetCode problems, their logic fell apart under pressure, leaving them unsure how to proceed.

As panic set in, CSOAHELP’s remote interview assistance team sprang into action. We quickly provided structured hints to guide the candidate. First, breaking down the problem into computing the lowest possible total price. Each product could have multiple discounts, and selecting the best discount was crucial.

The approach involved creating a dictionary to store product prices, parsing discounts into a unified format, and iterating through the products to determine the lowest applicable price.

With CSOAHELP’s help, the candidate regained composure. The interviewer detected no issues. The candidate confidently restated the problem and proceeded with the solution.

When implementing the code, the candidate followed our guidance seamlessly:

def findLowestPrice(products, discounts):
    from collections import defaultdict

    product_prices = defaultdict(list)
    for name, price in products:
        product_prices[name].append(int(price))
    
    discount_map = defaultdict(list)
    for name, discount in discounts:
        discount_map[name].append(discount)

    total_price = 0
    for name in product_prices:
        prices = sorted(product_prices[name])
        for i in range(len(prices)):
            min_price = prices[i]
            if name in discount_map:
                for discount in discount_map[name]:
                    if "%" in discount:
                        percent = int(discount.replace("%", ""))
                        min_price = min(min_price, prices[i] * (1 - percent / 100))
                    else:
                        fixed = int(discount)
                        min_price = min(min_price, prices[i] - fixed)
            total_price += max(min_price, 0)
    return int(total_price)

After completing the implementation, the candidate elaborated on the approach, explaining how sorting helped prioritize the lowest-priced items first to maximize savings.

The interviewer was impressed and asked for a complexity analysis. We swiftly provided a hint, which the candidate effortlessly repeated. The entire process flowed smoothly, and the candidate passed the technical interview with flying colors.

Without CSOAHELP’s real-time assistance, this interview could have ended in confusion and failure. Instead, the candidate received precise hints, code structure guidance, and response templates, making them appear as a composed and experienced engineer.

Have you ever faced a situation where you blanked out during an algorithm question? Started coding but lost track of your logic? Struggled with complexity analysis when questioned by an interviewer? Or found it difficult to structure responses in behavioral interviews?

Worry no more—CSOAHELP’s remote interview assistance is here to solve all these problems! Our real-time remote assistance ensures you don’t stumble at critical moments. We provide precise guidance, helping you respond confidently. Our structured communication optimization makes your answers clear and compelling. Additionally, we offer customized mock interviews tailored to your target company.

Interviews are high-stakes events, and even a small mistake can cost you an opportunity. With a hidden assistant by your side, you can turn the tide in your favor. Contact CSOAHELP now and secure your success in interviews!

经过csoahelp的面试辅助，候选人获取了良好的面试表现。如果您需要面试辅助或面试代面服务，帮助您进入梦想中的大厂，请随时联系我。

If you need more interview support or interview proxy practice, feel free to contact us. We offer comprehensive interview support services to help you successfully land a job at your dream company.